Lucid Motors interim CEO Marc Winterhoff said the company is seeing “phenomenal” feedback on its new Gravity model despite the “slower-than-desired” production ramp up.
“As we speak, we’re delivering additional cars. And the feedback is phenomenal,” Winterhoff said in an interview with the media outlet Automotive News. “Twenty-five years working in the automotive industry, I’ve never seen that positive feedback.”
Lucid delivered the first units of the Gravity model in the final days of 2024 to employees, friends and their families. However, the brand did not disclose how many units it handed over back then.
Currently, it is ramping up deliveries of the large SUV that joins the Air sedan in the company’s lineup. The Air starts at $71,400 and the Gravity from $96,550 with shipping costs included.
Winterhoff acknowledged the production ramp has been slower than expected.
“In the meantime, Lucid is ramping up production of the Gravity, which has gone more slowly than desired,” he said, citing industry-wide tariff pressures and the prioritization of “perfect quality” in delivering the model.
Still, the sluggish rollout has prompted questions about production readiness. A source familiar with the matter told EV in April that higher-volume output was unlikely to begin before June or July.
Lucid recently reiterated its guidance to produce approximately 20,000 vehicles this year but did not provide a breakdown by model or clarify how many Gravity units it plans to build.
The German executive confirmed the electric vehicle maker has “concrete plans” for three upcoming models built on its next-generation platform.
Winterhoff said Lucid will launch three new vehicles based on a new platform aimed at scaling volumes. “We have concrete plans for three top hats already,” he said. “Two will launch close together, starting with the first in late 2026.”
He added: “That is the product that we are really focused on right now because that will then give us also the demand and the volume.”
Winterhoff said Lucid’s all-electric focus gives the company a strategic advantage over legacy automakers with diversified portfolios.
“The fact that we are EV-only is actually a good thing for us because we are completely focusing,” he said.
“Whereas other [automakers] have to right now make capital decisions about, are we going back to ICE completely? Are we going to hybrids? Are we going to EVs?”
Winterhoff said affordability has now overtaken charging as the biggest consumer worry.
“Consumer anxiety over public charging infrastructure was the top issue for EV adoption a couple years ago, but affordability is the key concern now,” he said.
He reiterated Lucid’s long-term confidence in the market: “EV is the solution for the future. We are 100% convinced about that,” he said.
Lucid registered 975 vehicles in the United States in May, up from 820 in April, according to data from Motor Intelligence.
Registrations rose 74.4% year over year, when the EV maker registered 559 vehicles and had yet to launch the Gravity.
Motor Intelligence classifies vehicles under either “cars” or “trucks.”
For Lucid, the Air sedan is categorized as a car, while the Gravity SUV, which began customer deliveries earlier this year, is grouped as a truck due to its size—198.2 inches (5,035 mm) in length.
Of the 942 Lucid vehicles registered in March, 912 were listed as cars and 30 as trucks, indicating Gravity sales had begun.
In April, estimates showed only five trucks registered, with the remaining 815 units attributed to the Air.
In May, however, all 975 vehicles were classified as cars. It remains unclear whether Motor Intelligence has reclassified the Gravity as a car or if Lucid registered no Gravity units in the month.
